radio shack kit question on (other) transformer ("input" 4Kct2K)

Last I checked, Mouser had a page of "subminature audio transformers" or something like that.

The specs on these things are variable enough that something nearby will probably work (a factor of 2 or thereabouts). For a couple of different manufacturer's parts, the impedance (and turns ratio) matches, but, for the cheap guys, you'll find the actual inductance of the windings shows that they put the minimum amount of wire in there. Great leeway can be had with the minimum and maximum frequency response. (Lower inductance windings will end up with a higher value for the low frequency limit). They'll spec the frequency response, but usually don't spec the winding inductances (which can vary with the core material, and with a bunch of other nonlinear crap when in operation).

So a good manufacturer's 1k ohm transfomer might be the same as a cheap guy's 2k transformer. these days, most of this stuff is some job shop in China, so "it's suck it and see" if you're buying a one off, retail

Mark Zenier snipped-for-privacy@eskimo.com Googleproofaddress(account:mzenier provider:eskimo domain:com)

In the UK: Maplin sell the LT44 (driver) & LT700 (output) - I believe these items were originally sold under the Eagle International brand.

I'd like to help you, but first I'll need your telephone number so we can begin the transaction.

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x-no-archive: yes Radio Shack used to carry a lot of learning kits and gadgets, now all they sell are bags of assorted resistors. :(

Michael Lalonde Sudbury, Ontario - M&J Mining xx

Yes indeed - I happened by their web site to try to find a gift for a little interchange we at DC401 are doing. Couldn't find antyhing worthwile in the $30 range.

The last thing I actually bought at a radio shack was a couple of $6 R/C cars. Which I took home and promptly gutted down to the circuit-boards. After some experimenting with controller, VOM, and oscilloscope, I tapped into the RC board to get the forward, backward, left, and right signals the controller sent to control the car, then used those to instead drive a pair of controllers handling a matched pair of stepper motors from a couple old flatbed scanners. The whole mess got wired and bolted together to make a radio-controlled stepper-motor driven pan/tilt mount for a wireless camera. It took a little more doing, and a PIC-18 (*MASSIVE* overkill) I had laying around, to wire the transmitter to my computer's USB port, and some coding to talk to it, but eventually, that rig turned into a motion sensing camera that could track a deer or a turkey as it traversed the hillside behind the house :)

Nearly a year ago rumours were floating about that Radio Shack was planning to re-open stores in the UK - so far those rumours seem to have fizzled out and sunk without trace.

In Hitchin Hertfordshire; there is a store that I think probably was once RS, they're still there selling pretty much the same old tat, a Radio Shack store in all but name.

Actually, you can't go to a Radio Shack in Sudbury.

But there were rumors of a comeback to Canada too.

About 1971, Radio Shack set up a division to operate in Canada, and started opening stores. Then decades later, the division, Intertan, was launched as a standalone company, I seem to recall they were responsible for "international" operations too. Intertan paid for the rights to the name and had some agreement in place to buy from the US company. And at some point, around a decade ago, Best Buy bought Radio Shack in Canada. It continued as Radio Shack, the agreements still in place. But, Radio Shack in the US didn't like to see the operation with their name on it being owned by a competitor in Canada, so they went to court, the previous deal was annulled, and Radio Shack in Canada became The Source by Best Buy.

It continued pretty much the same, though by then Radio Shack in Canada had already started stocking brands other than Radio Shack, and they may have dumped the parts already, I remember an instance of a great sale on parts but I can't remember if it came before or after the name change.

I gather the same thing happened in the UK, the Radio Shack stores sold to some other chain.

And it went on, until Best Buy wasn't doing so well, at which point they sold the chain to Bell (yes, the telephone company, that also owns internet and cable and cellphone subdisiaries, the big CTV network here in Canada and various cable channels). And it stays the same, fewer and fewer parts. And unlike the old days, they never put the parts in the flyers, especially not on a sale price, so what parts are still there are relatively invisible, though still on the racks. They don't keep many semiconductors, it's mostly generic parts.

Michael